Steven Gerrard believes that Portugal "will be fearing England" after last night's destruction of Croatia.

The Liverpool midfielder believes England are growing in strength as a unit while the side also boasts several individuals capable of turning a game single-handedly.

Gerrard said: "If we keep performing like we did last night, then I don't think that many sides will want to meet us in this tournament.

"Portugal are going to be tough. They have got some great individuals - but so have we and we are confident we can get over that hurdle.

"They are the host nation but I don't think we are the underdogs. Portugal will be fearing us if they look at that performance. They'll be quite worried playing against us on Thursday."

Gerrard believes that Everton starlet Wayne Rooney can provide that little extra ingredient which could inspire England to their first major trophy in 38 years.

Gerrard said: "I definitely think that Wayne can help us win it. If you look at his performances over the last three games, he has helped us to get into the quarter-finals.

"I am sure he will help us progress even further. I feel there is no better player in Europe at the moment than Wayne Rooney. If he keeps on putting in performances like that then one day he can also become the best player in the world.

"His performances in this tournament have been so mature. Everything he has done has been spot on. But the whole team is doing well."

Skipper David Beckham also praised England's overall showing after they had conceded an early goal and said: "It was the type of performance we wanted to produce.

"We played well. We didn't deserve to be 1-0 down but we kept on playing our football and we will go into the Portugal game with a lot of confidence.

"The good thing was that we passed the ball around well and kept it a lot better than against Switzerland."